Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

There has been much controversy this morning about the ¤26 million taken from the carer?s respite grant. The controversy, which should never have happened, will not go away. As an Independent Senator who has, as some describe it, been parachuted in by the Taoiseach, I cannot stand over it. It is profoundly wrong. I respectfully suggest to the Fine Gael and Labour Senators and Deputies that they stop trying to justify it on television and radio. They are finding language, timbre and tones to justify it but it is not working. They cannot pretend that it is a good thing. They would be better off to admit that it is not a good thing and to try to find a solution as a matter of urgency.

The Minister for Finance commenced his Budget Statement with the sentence: ?As budget day is a good day for taking stock of where we are, let us do so.? He went on to tell us that Bank of Ireland, the ESB, Bord Gáis and AIB had made large profits. Part of the large profits are ¤3.7 billion belonging to us, all in AIB, and ¤3.57 billion in Bank of Ireland. I would like both Ministers with responsibility for financial matters to come to the House. I seek that they would free up ¤13 million from each of the two banks to provide the ¤26 million from June. In one way the Minister is suggesting that we have a great deal of money, that the banks are making profits and are back in the markets. The director of Bord Gáis was on a radio programme at the weekend telling us how marvellous Bord Gáis is and how people were running to buy its bonds. Could both Ministers please come to the House and tell me why ¤13 million of our money could not be released from AIB and Bank of Ireland to pay for the cut to the respite care grant? Fine Gael and Labour must stop pretending that it is all right and stop trying to find language to justify the cut because it is not justifiable.